Clarity
by x.puddleinspector.x
Summary: A new perspective for Akane opens the eyes of both Ranma and Akane. RxA
1. Chapter 1

Clarity

In the Nekohaten, it was early morning and the area had a tranquil silence of which the people of Nerima never had a chance to experience due to the calamity that came regularly with one Ranma Saotome. This silence clung around the young girl with long purple locks which, out of character for her, seemed dishevelled as she twiddled the ends around her delicate fingers. She waited impatiently in the kitchen for her great grandmother who no doubt was going to once again lecture her on failing to catch her husband. It was not that Shampoo did not try, as she did on a daily basis in a vain hope that her airen would finally realise she was the one for him rather than that sad excuse for a woman he lived with (she couldn't even make a sandwich without blowing up half the kitchen!)

As her great grandmother hopped gracefully into the kitchen, her silver hair tumbling behind her, Shampoo straightened her posture and set about hiding her fear from the intimidating figure in front of her. Fear was not an option- it was weak.

"Shampoo you know why you are here, correct?" the old woman asked almost wearily, as this conversation had occurred many times before and yet had little effect.

"I know why I here, you is mad at Shampoo as husband still not willing to come China with us – as is Amazon law" Shampoo replied, keeping her chin defiantly high as if she was in control of the situation. The Amazon leader peered at the girl, instantly noticing her tired appearance, noticing the flaws – the weaknesses- that the girl possessed. The change in the girl had shocked her and she had herself begun to wonder if chasing Ranma, though he is a fine breed, was worthwhile after all. Her great granddaughter was simply becoming weaker in her eyes and, more importantly, the eyes of the other leaders of the Amazon tribe. The woman observed the young girl in front of her, taking in the (in her opinion) racy outfit which she had hoped would entice the young Ranma – yet he had not been taken in by this obvious gambit and she feared this was to do with the young Tendo girl (though she dare not admit it out loud).

"I feel you are not trying your best young warrior – you are an Amazon and therefore should be able to complete this mission without fail in the next month. Sometimes I believe you are silly enough to think he will just follow you blindly back to China with us! Well you will have to think a little harder in order to succeed my great granddaughter- and I do not expect you to fail." With this she hopped back out of the kitchen at such a speed it would make any normal man gape in wonder.

However Shampoo did not notice the exit of her great grandmother for she was deep in thought. The words of the Amazon leader echoed in her ears as she contemplated her idea. A grin spread across her face in a feline fashion as she got up and sauntered out.

'Follow blindly back to China?'


	2. Chapter 2

"HURRY UP RANMA WE ARE GONNA BE LATE!!" Akane yelled through the front gates of the Tendo dojo. It was a beautiful sunny morning, the air was crisp and the sky was almost painted to perfection in a pastel blue. However this completely escaped the attention of the two teenagers who were now bolting down the street, one on the pavement and the other upon a silver fence parallel to the path. Though this may look to an outsider as a stressful point of the day, to the two teenagers this was like a ritual which was so familiar it was almost comforting. They were just able to be in each others presence without the bickering and their controlling fathers- running parallel to one another. Ranma turned to observe the girl, who was faced forward in deep concentration, as his eyes drank in her beautiful yet determined brown eyes, her short hair bouncing softly along with her stride and – although he hated to sound perverted- he also took note of her womanly figure. With this last thought he quickly glanced away with the ridge of this nose turning a stunning shade of crimson. He wished he could say these things to her out loud but when did he ever say things right? For now he would just run along side her – enjoying their tradition of running late.

Although there was another tradition which occurred almost every morning without fail which arrived as the sound of a little bike bell was heard just a few feet away. Both teenagers sighed deeply but for very different reasons as the metal bike flew past merely missing Akane by an inch or so. Then as the formality entailed, Shampoo would cry "Airen" and jump onto Ranma attaching herself to his body as best she could whilst the terrified yet tired boy attempted to pull her away. Yet this was about as effective as telling a cat not to chase a mouse. This had become the nature of their journey to school.

Akane watched from the side as she did each day. Every time she asked herself why she had not simply walked away and not just on those mornings but from the whole confusing relationship she shared with the self-centred jerk that is Ranma Saotome. Although she would never fully answer that question as she began to find answers she simply could not understand or perhaps didn't want to. As she watched the hussy cling onto her fiancée she could not control the flickering sensation of what she presumed was jealousy and she could not stop another little piece of her heart slowly breaking. She mentally slapped herself for these thoughts and began to focus upon her anger as this was the emotion she was most comfortable to display because then no one could laugh…or accuse her of being weak. The blue aura flamed around the girl, flowing freely and filling the surroundings as a warning to those in the vicinity that she was about to blow. Akane motioned her hand, and in it was her trusted mallet (which truly was a mystery of its own) as she advanced on the 'couple'.

Shampoo saw Akane coming so quickly grabbed the container from her pocket, which to the untrained eye looked like a quirky antique perfume bottle. At this point Ranma, who had been yelling at Shampoo to release him, moved away from the girl and timidly asked "Shampoo what's in the bottle?"

To which she simply plastered a sickly sweet smile to her face and claimed "This present for Ranma to show love to husband." As she spoke she lifted the bottle to Ranma's face and began to squirt the liquid into the face in front of her. However at this point Akane and her mallet had made their way into the equation and had consequently blocked her target. As the cloud of spray from Shampoo's bottle cleared she saw the shocked face of Akane staring back, and at her feet was the crumpled body of Ranma with a precise indent on the left side of his head courtesy of mallet-sama. Shampoo was frozen with indecision, but after quick thinking (as she was an Amazon after all) she decided it best to flee the scene before the spray took effect and to consider a new course of action as her original plan had been interrupted.


	3. Chapter 3

Ranma held his head and tried to fill in the blanks as to what had happened to leave him sitting on the street with a large bruise on this head (not that this was uncommon in his life). He sat up, ignoring the fact that the world was slightly distorted, and tried to steady himself with the aid of the fence. It was at this point he realised he was not alone. He looked to his left to find Akane on her knees on the pavement, simply looking down into her lap. She didn't seem to notice his movements which only proved to irritate him further.

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR!!? I didn't do nothing you... you... STUPID TOMBOY!"

"Ranma…?" She replied so softly that he was simply stunned. She didn't even yell back at his comments so something was wrong. He then caught sight of the strange bottle on the floor which Shampoo had been spraying. At this point his blood ran cold as he knew what kind of tricks the Amazons could come up with, and he also knew it would not be beneath them to 'remove the obstacles' as they put it.

"Akane are you okay?" Ranma asked in his softest voice as he crouched down to her level.

"Everything… is so dark Ranma – where are you?" She reached out a hand which trembled. He stared at her in true puzzlement and then looked to her hand, unsure whether to take it or if he would be hit for touching her (once a day was more than enough for him).

"Akane? I'm right in front of you stupid! What are you completely blind or somethin'?" At which point he waved a hand in front of her face and was dumbfounded when her eyes gave no response.

"WHO are you calling stupid?!? You are such a JERK Ranma!" With that she began to storm of in the wrong direction for school, trying to feel her way around for try as she might everything around her was black – she could see nothing. However she refused to ask that jerk for help no matter how scared she was. 'I don't need him' she chanted over and over in her head hoping it would eventually break through and would make sense. She reached her hand out again and felt electricity jolt through her entire body (which was a true cliché but there was no other way to describe the effect) as her finger tips brushed against the soft and warm, yet firm surface of Ranma's body.

The surface however was now blushing profusely as he gingerly took her hand and marvelled at how it felt to hold her tiny hand in his. To avoid putting his foot in it again and saying the wrong thing Ranma simply kept to the facts and said

"I'll take you to Dr Tofu's clinic okay Kane?" At which the girl smiled feeling the contact of his hand covering her small one thus forgetting the previous harsh words. She then replied with a small nod as, realistically, she had few other options .

After a quiet and rather difficult walk, the teenagers arrived at the clinic and went inside to find Dr Tofu. The young doctor's glasses shone as he warmly greeted his two most common patients as he wondered what sort of dilemma the two were in this time. He glanced over the two teens checking quickly for signs of bleeding and bone breakage but started to smile as he noticed that a)there were no obvious signs of bodily harm and b) the two teens were still holding hands. It was at this point Ranma noticed the close contact between them was being observed and removed his hand from hers. Sighing at this the Doctor continued "So what brings you to the clinic today?"

A small silence hung awkwardly over them in which time Dr Tofu noted how Ranma had suddenly become uncomfortable and yet how Akane had very little reaction at all to her surroundings (which he found slightly odd for a martial artist).

"Well doc," Ranma said, thinking carefully as of how to phrase it, "see Shampoo sprayed some kinda perfume stuff at Akane this morning and well now she says she can't see nuthin and that its all…dark?" Dr Tofu thought over Ranma's words carefully and told them that he would do some tests to try and determine what exactly had happened. His mind began to whirl at the possibilities - as this was a potion of Shampoos he knew it could be from a wide range of Amazon techniques and potions. He then began to examine Akane's eyes whilst Ranma stood out in the waiting room, wondering what he could do to help Akane this time.


	4. Chapter 4

Akane sat patiently whilst the Doctor continued his tests, she answered his questions and followed his instructions but otherwise she was unresponsive. All she could see was this darkness and, as much as she hated to admit such a thing, she was scared. It was similar to when she was a very little girl and she had been terrified of the dark when she had first had to sleep in her own room. It didn't help that Nabiki had told her terrifying stories of mystical creatures that would lurk in the dark, just waiting to eat you. Back then she had simply run to her mother who had embraced her tightly and simply told her no harm would come to her. She had believed her mother and had felt the fear of the dark almost vanish. However that fear had begun to creep back up her spine and now her mother was not there to protect her anymore.

Her thoughts then began to drift to another person who always protects her. Her stupid fiancée who drove her to insanity…and yet he also made her feel somewhat whole (which she admitted sounded silly as she did not need anyone else to make her who she was -but sometimes…). She sighed out loud and thought to when he had taken her hand earlier, which was such a rare yet amazing experience. It almost made all the insanity worthwhile…just to have moments such as that. She wasn't sure about how he felt for her - as who would be with all the different signals that boy sends out? One minute they were getting along, the next he would insult her and she would get mad, then the fiancées would come and she would be even worse and then the enemies plus the families would burst in. The list of disturbances and problems just continued to create a cycle that had become part of her life.

Suddenly she realised that she had stopped being so afraid as she had been so wrapped up in her thoughts about him. She started to wonder how just the thought of him could do such a thing to her but thankfully was stopped in the process as Dr Tofu announced he was done with the examination.

All the family had now gathered to hear the news of how Akane was doing and what exactly was wrong with her. All sat around in the room, apart from Kasumi as they thought it best to keep her out because she would distract Dr Tofu from his work. Nabiki looked around the room at the men 'if you could call them that' she scoffed inwardly. First was her father who, as per usual, was in floods of tears asking the doctor to 'save his baby girl' which made Nabiki cringe internally. Next to him sat Genma - a man who could be described as the biggest free loader (and if it weren't for his stupidity she might have almost respected his con artist skills). Genma sat calmly next to Ranma who contrasted his father completely as he fidgeted and pulled at his clothes in what Nabiki presumed was worry. She had no allusions of his feelings towards his little sister. She rolled her eyes at the three and turned to the doctor to ask what was going on.

"Well I have studied Akane's eyes and the problem appears to be quite out of the ordinary." Everyone simultaneously thought 'when is it ever ordinary?' before the doctor continued " You see to be able to see there has to be a message sent to the brain by electrical impulses, and yet in her case the message from the eye is not being sent to the brain and therefore she cannot see. Does that make sense?" He asked as he looked at the faces in the room and as he expected the faces of Ranma and Genma were looking on in confusion. Yet he could not think of an easier way to explain it to the two so instead he spoke to the Tendos as they seemed to be following.

"I do not know exactly how this was caused but I think it may be down to a certain chemical which freezes the messages so that they can not reach the brain. I have started looking for a cure but so far have found very little to help."

"So what should we do doctor?" Soun sniffled

"Just keep things going and help Akane to participate in normal activities and I will keep looking for a cure."

Everyone began to leave the clinic and head for the Tendo dojo with the blind and clumsy Akane who was having trouble adjusting. All except Ranma that is who decided to go straight to the source and find the cure from Shampoo (he just hoped he wouldn't have to date her again to get it). He jumped gracefully from rooftop to rooftop until he reached the Nekohaten. He walked to the door and was puzzled to find it closed with a note attached to it which read 'We are closed as we have taken a trip back to China - we will be back in a week or two'. Ranma groaned in annoyance and leaned his head on the door. He couldn't help but feel guilt course through his body so much of it in fact that it almost physically hurt. He hadn't wanted Shampoo to cling to him or nuthin' and it was really Akanes fault for over reacting. Yet somehow he wasn't managing to convince himself as it was one of _his_ fake-fiancées that had hurt Akane and lets face it her life was probably much simpler before he came around… and maybe even happier? He shook his head to remove the thought. He would say sorry…yea that would work - and he could maybe try and help her out a bit to keep her out of danger. Although wasn't he the danger magnet himself? Well he would try to help her, as long as she didn't mallet him first. On that thought he walked home in his usual fashion and went to find Akane.


	5. Chapter 5

Things had been going well at home for the rest of the evening, as everyone fussed over Akane which meant Ranma didn't have a chance to accidentally insult her. It was now morning, almost identical to that of the previous day which once again escaped the attention of the two teens as one of them could not see the beauty around her and the other was focused on the beauty in front of him trying to direct her out of harms way. It was not as easy as Ranma had first thought it would be as there were so many things Akane now had difficulty with. He had to help her get her shoes and had to feed her breakfast which had caused their fathers no end of happiness as they commented how the schools would soon be joined. This made Ranma blush even now, but she had needed his help so he had continued despite the comments. Akane had remained surprisingly calm- after she had yelled at the fathers (as she could not see to hit them). Now Ranma began to walk in her footsteps with his hands firmly set on her shoulders to guide her, which was difficult as he often found his concentration slipping. It was odd walking on the pavement with her, yet he was almost enjoying it. The he looked up noticing the school gates looming ominously ahead. With a gulp he informed Akane of where they were and they changed position so they were side by side, hoping not to arouse too much suspicion. Then Ranma took her hand and tried not to notice the stares and whispers which ensued around them. Of course, true to his customs, Kuno stepped out throwing roses to his 'beloved Akane Tendo' which Ranma promptly caught and threw to the floor. Both his and Akane's other hands started to ball into a fist as he began his spout about the 'evil sorcerer Saotome…blah blah blah'.

At this point Akane was completely frustrated - it was bad enough having to depend on everyone else just to live her life but now she was being claimed as some kind of prize by this complete idiot and she couldn't even see to hit him!!! She just could not stop herself from yelling out in irritation

" KUNO why don't you just SHUT UP!! You know what? I would never date you - in fact NO girl would because you are the biggest MORON I have ever met. Besides I don't want you to _save me_ from Ranma OKAY? He is MY FIANCEE so stay out of my business you…you…JERK!!!!' She took a deep breath and started to stomp forward at which point her sister Nabiki came to her aid as both Kuno and Ranma stood speechless.

Ranma could not believe what had just happened. Without any violence what so ever Akane had managed to stop Kuno in his tracks and stand up for herself. He had to admit he was slightly impressed yet stunned that she would ever say those things or more accurately, shout those things out loud. His mind whirled over her small speech. What did she mean she didn't want to be saved from him? Did that mean she saw him as something that she feared or despised but did not need help to escape him…or did she mean that maybe she liked having him as a fiancée? Sadly the first option sounded more likely as Akane was fiercely independent which, in his opinion, was one of her best qualities (even if it did mean a whack on the head for him every so often). The bell broke him out of his trance as he looked over to Kuno who simply stood there…perhaps this time her words had gotten through to him. Kuno glared at Ranma and quietly said " I do not know what you have done to my beautiful goddess that is Akane Tendo but I will truly kill you for making her speak such harsh words to her love!" he finished with venom in his voice as he reached for his bokken and attacked. At which point Ranma neatly kicked him into the air and discarded the earlier thought that Kuno had finally heard Akane's words and understood.

The classes had begun and Akane was having great difficulty trying to take notes as she did not know where she was writing and could not read the appointed chapters. So when her sensei had asked her a question she failed to answer it which made the teacher irritable. Shortly afterwards she found herself in trouble as apparently she was also on the wrong page and writing on the desk. She was sent to stand in the hall to hold buckets with Ranma, who was punished for being late, so he was thankfully able to guide her out of the room. They stood in silence for a while - side by side.

"I presume you were late again Ranma?" Akane said in an almost mocking voice but not too harshly for Ranma to take offence. Ranma grumbled an affirmative response at this and proceeded to ask why she was in trouble (as this was Akane so it was rare). She sighed and replied

" I couldn't see what I was doing so I made a mess of everything. I should be used to it by now - I mess up everything I do. Just like you said." She turned in the direction she hoped was away from the boy so he would not see her tears forming. She was getting more and more frustrated and what was worse was that she couldn't even see him or anyone to take out her anger on which she desperately needed. She had no other way of releasing all the emotion inside as she never needed an alternative method before. This just made her feel even worse as she could not believe that hitting someone made her feel better; what kind of person did that make her?

Ranma on the other hand was panicking, he had noticed her tears and if there was one thing he couldn't handle it was Akane in tears - it almost made him want to cry (not that he would as it wasn't manly at all). He had no idea where she had gotten the idea that he thought she messed everything up, but knowing him he had probably said it in an argument at some point. Akane had a good memory and was liable to hold grudges. All he knew was that right now he had to say something, he just wasn't sure what it was he should say. Should he agree with her about her being a mess to try and win back the angry Akane he knew and lo…knew or would it just make her cry? She was hardly responding in her usual Akane manner but he supposed that was simply because she couldn't hit what she couldn't see. What if he tried being nice to her? Well she couldn't exactly hit him for it and she would be less likely to cry so it seemed - for once - the safer option.

"Er…Akane?" He licked his lips in a vain attempt to allow his thoughts to create an eloquent speech that would make her feel better. "Well I, you know, don't really think that, you know, you er… make a mess of stuff. Well not all stuff. You know? You can… you know do some stuff."

He wanted to slap himself. That had been perhaps the worst speech in the history of speeches. He should have just insulted as per usual- at least he knew how to do that and wouldn't have sounded like a brain dead idiot. However through his berating of himself he caught the sound of a girl giggling. Not just any girl either, but the one next to him. He turned to her, eyes wide, and watched as she started to laugh at him - yet he didn't feel insulted. He studied her beautiful smile and the small crinkle near her eyes as she laughed and before he knew it he was laughing with her. Sadly the laughter was cut short by the bell, so both students went to rejoin their class.


End file.
